St. Landry democrat., 1887-06-11


titled ''The Tempest" Service began
with the exposition of appropriate pas
sages of Scripture, after which the great
congregation sang the hymn:
: Heaven is my fatherland,
Heaven is my home.
The text was Mark 4, 36-39, describing
Christ stilling the tempest. He said:
Tiberias, Galilee, Gennesaret-three
names for the same lake. No other gem
ever had so beautiful setting. 1t lay
in a scene of great luxuriance; the sur
rounding hills, high, terraced, sloped.
groved, so many hanging gardens of
beauty, the waters rumbling down be-
tween rocks of gray and red limestone,
flashing from the hills and bounding
into the sea- On the shore were castles,
armed towers, Roman baths, everything
attractive and beautiful; all styles of
vegetation in shorter space than in al
most any other space in all the world,
from the palm tree of the forest to the
trees of rigorous climate.
It seemed as if the Lord had launched
one wave of beauty on all the scene, and
it hung and swung from rock and hill
and oleander. Roman gentlemen in
pleasure boats sailing the lake, and coun-
trymen in fish-smacks coming down to
|. drop their nets pass each other with nod
and shout and laughter, or swinging idly
at their moorings. o, what wonderful,
what beautiful lake,
1t seems as if we shall have quiet
night Not leaf winked in the air !;
not ripple disturbed the face of Gen
nesaret; but there seems to be little
excitement up the beach, and we hasten
to see what it is, and we ind it an en-
| barkation.
From the western shore fiotilla push
ing out; not squadron, or deadly arma-
ment, nor clipper with valuable merchan-
disc, nor pirate vessels ready to destroy
everything they could seize; but flo
tilla bearing messengers of life, and
light, and peace. Christ is in the front
of the boat. His disciples are in smaller
boat. Jesus, weary with much speaking
TO large multitudes, is put into somno-
lence by the rocking of the waves. If
| there was any motion at all the ship was
easily righted; if the wind passed from
starboard to larboard, or from larboard
| to starboard, the boat would rock, and
by the gentleness of the motion putting
the Master asleep. And they extempor-
lied pillow made out of a fisherman's
coat | think no sooner is Christ pros
trate and His head touched the pillow
than He is sound asleep. The breezes of
the lake run their fingers through the
| locks of the worn sleeper, and the boat
rises and falls like sleeping child on
the bosom of a sleeping mother.
Calm night! starry night! beautiful
night! Run up all the sails, ply all the
oars, and let the large boat and the small
boat glide over gentle Gennesaret. But
the sailors say there is going to be a
change of weather. And even the pas
sengers can hear the moaning of the
storm, as it comes on with great stride,
and all the terrors of hurricane and
darkness. Tie large boat trembles like
deer at bay among the clangor OF the
hounds; great patches of foam are flung
into the air; the sails of the vessel loosen
and the sharp winds crack like pistols
the smaller boats, like petrels, -polse on
the cliff of the waves and then plunge.
Overheard go cargo, tackllng, and
masts, and the drenched disciples rush
| into the DaCk part Ol Ille podt, 6lhet i"y
hold of Christ, and say unto Him: MAS
ter, carest Thou not that we perish?" That
great parsonage lifts His head from the
pillow of the fisherman's coat, walks to
the front of the vessel, and looks out into
the storm. All around Him are the
smaller boats, driven in the tempest, and
through it comes the cry of drowning
men, By the flash of the lightning see
the calm brow of Christ as the spray
dropped from His beard. He has one
word for the sky and another for the
waves. Looking upward He cries
"Peacep' Looking downward, He says
"Be still p
The waves fall fiat on their faces, the
foam melts, the extinguished stars re-
light their torches. The tempest falls
dead, and Christ stands with His feet or
the neck of the storm. And while the
sailors are bailing out the boats, ane
while they are trying to untangle the
cordage, the disciples stand in amaze
ment, now looking into the calm sea
then into the calm sky, then into th'
calm Saviour's countenance, and they CRY
out: "What manner of man is this, tina
even the winds and the sea obey Him.
The subject in the first place impresse
me with the fact that it is very import
ant to have Christ with the ship; TO